Day 8:
Rainforest Day #3

5/10 Diary

Last evening we had our first riverbed campfire complete with campsongs. Following the campfire the first group of tenters successfully survived the night alone with the wilderness thanks to the navigating gifts of Nick and Ollie. We still don't know how they found our tents in the pitch black. It was a hot sweaty evening (the tent felt like a sauna) full of conversation and night wildlife. Highlights included an opossum, an owl, and two tree frogs mating. Wednesday morning, Amanda, Staci, and Mrs. Trumpey got up for a 6:30 tree climb. The view from 22 meters up was amazing. Helen, Heather, Steve, Amanda, Nick, and Bryonie went horseback riding after breakfast. Steve learned the importance of ducking under low-hanging limbs when he hit his head on one.

Another group (Carrie, Ollie, Colin, Emily, Emilia, and Joe) ventured up a mountainside for a grueling all-day hike. Let us define grueling: First they hiked miles deep into the rainforest, beneath the sweltering sun, along a rocky mountain stream. Along the way, one of our tour guides caught a giant green iguana! Jurgen said they are extremely rare in this part of Costa Rica. Score, us! Then came the hard part. The group left the stream to hike (and crawl) up very steep, muddy slope toward their final destination. At the top they saw a landslide that provided breathtaking views of the valley, the lodge, and even the city of Limon and the Caribbean Sea in the distance. The landslide was cause by a huge earthquake in 1991. They saw many mahogany trees, worth over $100,000 each if they were cut down (but they won't be.) Jurgen, who blazed the trail on the way up, did not accompany the group on the way down. Therefore, they got lost, bushwhacking our way through the dense jungle and sliding down the muddy terrain on our bottoms. Everyone was so exhausted at the end of the day, that we settled in early for a quiet night of drawing, and much-needed rest.

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